Archive October 2015

‘My whole life I’ve dressed different than other people. As a child, I always acted more extreme than others. Went to school in a dress. And if another kid fell, I would dramatically throw myself to the ground as well. That was so weird that the other kids thought: better not make jokes about this one.’

‘I don’t know what I want to do at the moment – work-wise, that is. That uncertainty is new to me, ‘cause I never had any doubts concerning work. From a young age on I knew I wanted to study law, so I did. Tax law. But when I worked for a big Dutch tax and consultancy firm for a few months, I found out that the work itself didn’t interest me that much. So now I’m not sure. But I’m not feeling insecure about it, I’ll just start some place and will find my way from there.’

Situated on a bridge over the Keizers canal, a street artist duo is performing a grunting a cappella act. Seemingly indifferent, Olivia is standing right next to them while applying flowers to her bike in utmost concentration. ‘My gran was watching over my bike last weekend, when I was out of town. Unfortunately, she thought the bike was too much of a catch for bike thieves, being decorated and all, so she removed the flowers.’

In Colombia, where I was born, I joined baby pageants. Already at that age I loved wearing beautiful clothes. I wasn’t even a year and half when I was adopted and and grew up in Friesland. The interest in looks stayed. When I went to school, I would always take another set of clothes with me, afraid that my clothing would get dirty from playing. My Frisian dad used to say about my sister and me: I’ve got two daughters.

Lila: I would go crazy if I was in one place for too long. Originally we’re from New York City but a few years back we started travelling all over the world. We’ve been in Amsterdam for quite a while now, love the vibe here.

Thoth: Moving from place to place we earn our money performing on the street with our violins. This morning we were in the Vondelpark. It didn’t go so well though, so Lila is a bit annoyed.

Lila: We like to exaggerate our style just a little when we go out to perform. But mainly, what you see is who we are. We have become our artist identities, Lila and Thoth.